Apparatus for treating the margins of sole members



Sept. 16, 1969 0. COMEAU ETAL 3,455,683

APPARATUS FOR TREATING THE MARGINS OF SOLE MEMBERS Filed Jan. 30, 1968 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG l ATTORNE Sept. 16, 1969 G. O. COMEAU ETAL APPARATUS FOR TREATING THE MARGINS 0F SOLE MEMBERS 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 30, 1968 Sept. 16, 1969 a, COMEAU' ETAL 3,466,683

/ APPARATUS FOR TREATING THE MARGINS OF SOLE MEMBERS Filed Jan. 30, 1968 4 Sheets-Sheet a FIG. 3

i i lllll ATTORNEY P 6, 1969 a. o. COMEAU ETAL 3,465,633

APPARATUS FOR TREATING THE MARGINS OF SOLE MEMBERS Filed Jan. 30, 1968 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 ATTORN EY United States Patent 3,466,683 APPARATUS FOR TREATING THE MARGINS 0F SOLE MEMBERS George 0. Comeau, Haverhill, Mass., Leonard J. Laurence, Plaistow, N.H., and Richard S. Ordway, Haverhill, Mass., assignors, by mesne assignments, to C1rcle Machine Co., Inc., Haverhill, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Filed Jan. 30, 1968, Ser. No. 701,608 Int. Cl. A43d 25/00, 27/00, 29/00 U.S. Cl. 1217 22 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Apparatus for such surface and margin treating operations as wheeling and reducing-roughing sole members, the apparatus having a support for the sole member, surface to be treated uppermost, a margin-treating wheel, and means to turn the sole member on the support to advance its margin into contact with the margin-treating wheel, the turning means consisting of a pair of closely spaced driving members engageable with the edge of the sole member, one on each side of the margin-treating wheel and a pair of seating wheels, one on each side of the margin-treating wheel and engageable with the sole member closely adjacent the margin-treating wheel and the driving members.

The present invention relates to apparatus for such surface and margin treating operations as wheeling and for reducing-roughing sole members.

Previous apparatus for these operations are unsatisfactory in that the operations are not well performed with I all materials and through a sufficiently wide range of sizes and styles of the members. These shortcomings are due largely to the inability of the means turning the member relative to the margin treating wheel to so function as to provide substantially uniformly treated margins, particularly with sole members having, for example, such features as pointed or squared toes.

The general objective of the present invention is to provide apparatus for such operations in which a new relationship is provided between the member-turning means and the margin-treating wheel and between the driving members and the seating members of the memberturning means. In this relationship, a support is provided on which a member is positioned with its surface to be treated by the margin-treating wheel uppermost. The member-turning means includes a pair of closely spaced driving members exposed above the support for engagement with the edge of the member, one driving member on each side of the margin-treating wheel and close to a vertical through the wheel axis, and a pair of seating wheels, one on each side of the margin-treating wheel and engageable with the member adjacent the margintreating wheel and the driving members and operable to maintain the member against the driving members as the member is turned thereby. This arrangement of the margin-treating wheel, the seating wheels, and the driving members enables the members to be turned rapidly with the treated margins being substantially uniform regardless of the size and shape of the members and regardless of the material from which they are formed since the driving members are dimensioned and disposed to prevent any appreciable movement of the member towards then in the direction of the plane of the margintreating wheel.

Another objective of the invention is to provide that the plane of each seating wheel is substantially inclusive of the axis of an appropriate one of the driving members "ice and has its axis close to a perpendicular inclusive of the axis of the margin-treating wheel, typically substantially at the inner edge of the marginal area to be treated.

Another objective is to provide for adjustments of the margin-treating wheel both vertically relative to the support and lengthwise relative to the driving members and like adjustments of the seating wheels.

Yet another objective of the invention is to provide supporting structures for the seating members that enable the above referred to relationship to be effectively estabhshed. In accordance with this objective, the drive for the seating wheels includes a shaft extending] transversely of the support and rearwardly of the driving members. Each arm of a pair of arms is pivotably supported by the shaft for movement independently of the other towards and away from the support and each arm has, at its free end, a stub shaft disposed towards the other arm with a sprocket and a seating wheel mounted thereon. The shaft has a pair of sprockets, one for each stub shaft sprocket and connected thereto by a chain.

In the accompanying drawings, there is shown an illustrative embodiment of the invention from which these and other of its objectives, novel features, and advantages will be readily apparent.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of apparatus in accordance with the invention,

FIGURE 2 is a partly broken away perspective view of the apparatus, on an increased scale, with the margintreating wheel, its drive and adjustable support removed,

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary perspective view, on a further increase in scale, of the margin-forming wheel, its drive, and its adjustable support,

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view of the seating wheel supporting structure,

FIGURE 5 is a plan view showing the heel portion of a sole member and the relation of the driving members and the seating and margin-treating wheels thereto and to each other,

FIGURE 6 is a vertical section showing the structure of FIGURE 5 as seen from one side, the operation being wheeling,

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary plan view of a sole member illustrating a wheeling effect,

FIGURE 8 is a view similar to FIGURE 6 but illustratmg a reducing-roughing operation,

FIGURE 9 is a fragmentary plan view of a sole member illustrating the sole, and

FIGURE 10 is a fragmentary, vertical section of a different sole-turning member,

The embodiment of the invention illustrated by the drawings utilizes a table consisting of framework 10 in support of a flat-surfaced top 11 and a mount 12, see FIG- URE 2, on which is located a speed reducer 13 having a pulley 14 connecting by a belt 15 to the drive pulley 16 of an electric motor 17. The motor 17 is mounted on a slide 18 carried by parallel rods 19 whose ends are secured in supports 20 fixed on the mount 12. Adjustments of the belt 15 are effected by means of the screws 21 extending through a nut 22 fixed on the forward part of the slide 18.

The driven shaft 23 of the speed reducer 13 extends vertically and has a sprocket 24 and parallel, vertical shafts 25 and 2-6 have sprockets 27 and 28, respectively, the sprockets 24, 27, and 28 being interconnected by a chain 29. The shafts 23 and 25 are interconnected to intermediate shafts 30 and 31 by universal joints 32 and 33, respectively, and the intermediate shafts 30 and 31 are connected by universal joints 34 to the shaft portions 35 of generally indicated driving members 36, the shaft portions being supported in journals on the undersurface of the table top 11, one such journal being shown at 37 in FIGURE 6. The drive members 36 protrude a short distance above the table top 11 through closely spaced, transversely aligned holes 38 with which it is provided, see FIGURE 5.

The shaft 26 is connected to a horizontal shaft 40 within the gear box 41 located on a shelf 42 having bearings 43 in support of the shafts 23 and 25. A shaft 44 is mounted on the upper surface of the table top 11 adjacent the rear edge thereof in transversely aligned bearings 45 and the shafts 26 and 44 have sprockets 46 and 47, respectively, interconnected by a chain 48.

As may best be seen in FIGURE 4, a pair of U-shaped oppositely disposed mounts 49 and 50 are pivotally supported by the shaft 44 with an end wall of each between the end walls of the other. The mounts 49 and 50 have parallel forwardly extending portions 51 and 52, respectively, each slidably fitting a socket 53 with which each of the arms 54 is formed, each socket 53 opening through one side and the rear end of the appropriate arm 54. Slots 55 in the other side of each arm 54 open into its socket 53 of that arm to receive attaching screws 56 threaded into the appropriate forwardly extending portion to permit lengthwise arm adjustments. At the free end of each arm, there is a stub shaft 57 extending towards the other arm and rotatably supporting a sprocket 53 and seating wheel 59 assembly, the seating wheels 59 being spaced closely together. The shaft 44 has sprockets, one for each arm 54 and connected to an appropriate one of the sprockets 58 by a chain 60, the sprocket on the shaft 44 being hidden thereby in the drawings. An adjustable threaded stop 61 engageable with the table top 11 limits the downward position of each arm 54 and each arm 54 has a link 62 extending through holes 63 in the table top 11 and connected to a header 64 on the free end of the downwardly disposed piston of an air-operated unit generally indicated at 65 whose operation is controlled as by a treadle operated valve 66. Pressure controls, not shown, are usually desired to enable the pressure of the Wheels on the work to be adjusted.

The table top 11, as may best be seen in FIGURE 3, is provided, adjacent one side, with a support to which the rear end of a slideway 71 is connected by pivots 72, the pivot axis being transversely of the table top. A motor 73 has a base 74 slidably mounted on a slide 75 on the slideway 71 which has a stop 76 through which and a member 77 at the rear end of the base 74 a screw 78 is threaded thereby enabling the position of the motor to be adjusted relative to the slideway. At the front end of the slideway 71, there is a member 79 through which a screw 80 is threaded, the screw 80 also being threaded into the slide 75 so that by turning it, the slide 75 may be moved lengthwise of the slideway 71.

An arm 81 on the forward end of the slide 75 supports a transverse sleeve 82 in which a shaft 83 is journalled. A pulley 84, connected to the pulley 85 of the motor 73 by a belt 86, is fixed on one end of the shaft 83 and a margintreating wheel, generally indicated at 87, is made fast on the other end thereof. The screw 78 provides means for adjusting the tension of the belt 86.

The sleeve 82 rests on an adjustable stop, generally indicated at 88 which may, as shown in FIGURE 3, have an arm 89 pivotally connected as at 90 to a mount 91 fixed on the table top 11. A screw 92 threaded through the arm 89 is supported by the stem 93 of a generally indicated, air operated unit 94 whose operation is shown as controlled by the treadle operated valve 66.

In practice, the treadle operated valve 66 has a normal position in which the air operated unit 65 holds the seating wheels 59 in their operative position and the air operated unit 94 in its operative position. This arrangement is preferred since it frees the operator of treadle operation in operations requiring margin treatments all the way about the sole members. Where margin treatments are to be less than the whole length of the periphery of a sole member, the treadle valve 66 is actuated to raise the seating and treating wheels to limit the action of the treating wheel.

A housing 95, see FIGURE 1, for the margin-treating wheel 87 is secured to the sleeve 82 and its interior is in communication with a suction conduit 96 through which dust and cut particles are discharged to waste.

The margin-treating wheel 87 is of the type used in wheeling with at least one blade 97 on its periphery exposed to form spaced channels 98 transversely of themargin of the sole member 63, see FIGURES 6 and 7. For reducing-roughing operations, a margin-treating wheel 87A is used to provide, as by grinding, an outwardly tapering margin 99 in the sole member 67A shown in FIG- URES 8 and 9. If desired, the margin-treating may combine wheeling with reducing-roughing treatment and the treating wheel may effect reducing-roughing by means of a knife action as well as a grinding action.

In practice, and as will be apparent from the drawings, the drive members 36 are of small diameter and are spaced close to each other and to a perpendicular through the axis of the margin-treating wheel. The drive members may have their axes spaced about one inch apart and with the space between them in the neighborhood of a half an inch. The margin-treating wheels used in the illustrative embodiments of the invention are about seven inches in diameter. The seating wheels 59 are parallel to the margintreating wheel and the plane of each is substantially inclusive of the axis of an appropriate one of the drive members 36 and the axes of the seating wheels are transversely aligned and usually forwardly of the above referred-to perpendicular. With this arrangement, margintreating operations are accurate since, regardless of the size and shape of the sole member and the material from which it is formed, and the treated margin is of substantially uniform width throughout its length since no appreciable movement of a sole member is permitted in the direction of the plane of the margin-treating wheel.

The drive members 36 are shown as having a sleeve 100 anchored on the reduced and fluted end 101 of the shaft portion 35 as by a screw 102 threaded axially therein, the sleeve 100 having a surface providing a desired suitable frictional engagement with the edge of the sole member for turning it with its margin passing under the treating wheel 87 with the knife 97 forming channels 98 transversely of its margin, the frictional engagement being dependent on the material from which the sole member 67 is formed and the extent to which its margin is finished. It will be appreciated that the spacing between the channels 98 depends on the relationship between the rate of rotation of the margin-treating wheel 87 and the rate at which the sole member is turned. For that reason, it is desirable to have a suitable speed control, not shown, for the motor 17. The depth and length of the channels 98 depends on the position of the margintreating wheel 87 relative to the surface of the table top 11 and to the drive members 36.

In reducing-roughing by itself or in combination with wheeling, the drive members 36A shown in FIGURES 8 and 10 may be used. Each drive member 36A has the upper end of its shaft portion 35A formed with a head 102 and a threaded axial bore 103 for the threaded shank 104 of the head 105. The heads 102 and 105 define an annular, V-shaped slot 106 the width of which is variable as required by the thickness of the sole member and to its thickness forwardly and rearwardly of the treating wheel 87. A screw 107 extending freely through the head 105 and its shank 104 is threaded into the shaft portion 35B to lock the heads together.

With drive members of the type just described, the edge of the sole member 67A is so gripped as to insure the advance of its margin under the wheel 87A to form the tapering margin 99 with its width and depth being determined by the relationship between the periphery of the wheel 87A, the surface of the table top 11 and the drive members.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that the drive members must have their axes closely spaced so as to prevent any appreciable movement of a sole member towards them along the plane of the margin-treating wheel. While they are close to a perpendicular to the axis of the margin-treating wheel, this relationship is variable but most commonly it is either inclusive of that perpendicular or slightly rearwardly thereof. The seating Wheels are close together and desirably they engage the sole member close to the inner edges of the marginal zone being treated.

We claim:

1. In apparatus for wheeling and reducing-roughing a member such as a sole member, a support for the member, surface to be treated uppermost, a margin-treating wheel positioned above said support for engagement with a supported member disposed under it, and means to turn the member on said support to advance its margin into contact with said wheel, said turning means including a pair of closely spaced driving members exposed above said support for engagement with the edge of the supported member and located close to a perpendicular through the axis of said margin-treating wheel, one driving member on each side of said wheel, and a pair of seating wheels, one on each side of the margin-treating wheel and engageable with the member closely adjacent but forwardly of said perpendicular and the driving members and operable to maintain the member against the driving members as the member is turned thereby.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the axes of the seating wheels are transversely aligned and are located close to the inner edge of the marginal zone to be treated.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the margintreating and seating wheels are parallel.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the plane of each seating wheel is substantially inclusive of the axis of an appropriate one of the driving members.

5. The apparatus of claim 3 in which the seating Wheels engage the member substantially transversely thereof with respect to the margin.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the axes of the driving members are in a plane at right angles to the plane of the cutting wheel.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the driving members are so dimensioned and spaced that any appreciable movement of the member towards them lengthwise with respect to the margin-treating wheel is prevented.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 and means to vary the vertical position of the margin-treating wheel relative to the support.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 and means to vary the position of the margin-treating wheel forwardly and rearwardly relative to the driving members.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 and means to vary the position of the seating wheel relative to the driving members.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 in which each driving member includes a first driving portion, a second driving portion, said portions defining an annular V-shaped recess to grip the edge of a member, and means adjustably connecting said portions to enable the width of said recess to be adjusted.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 in which each driving member includes a first driving portion with an axial passage opening 'therethrough, a second driving portion includes a stem threaded in said passage, the two driving portions define an annular, V-shaped recess to grip the edge of a member with the recess Width being adjustable, said seocnd driving portion having an axial passage extending from end-to-end thereof and threaded into the driving member to lock the two driving portions together.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 in which there are pivotable supporting structure for the seating wheels and pivotably supporting structure for the margin-treating wheel, each structure includes power operated means, and a manually operable control common to both power operated means and having a normal position and a second position, one position of the control efiecting an inoperative position of both the margin-treating and seating wheels.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 in which there are sup? porting means supporting the seating wheels for movement towards and away from the support for the member independently of each other.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 in which there is a drive for the seating wheels including a shaft extending transversely of the support rearwardly of the driving members and a pair of arms pivotably supported by said shaft, means rotatably supporting each seating wheel on the free end of an appropriate one of the arms, and a drive interconnecting said shaft to each of the seating wheels.

16. The apparatus of claim 1 in 'which there is a drive for the seating wheels including a shaft extending transversely of the support rearwardly of the driving members, a pair of arms are supported by the shaft, each to swing upwardly and downwardly relative to the support, a stub shaft extends transversely of the free end of each arm towards the other arm, a sprocket and one of the seating wheels are mounted on each stub shaft, sprockets are fixed on the shaft, one for each stub shaft sprocket, and a chain is trained about appropriate ones of said shaft and stub shaft sprockets.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 in which each arm is longitudinally adjustable.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 in which there is an adjustable stop for each arm engageable with the support.

19. The apparatus of claim 16 and power operated means operable to swing the arms upwardly and downwardly and including a separate connection with each arm.

20. The apparatus of claim 1 in which there is a mount transversely pivoted to the support and the mount includes a motor and a transverse sleeve, a shaft is journallcd in the sleeve and has a driving connection with the motor, the margin-treating wheel is mounted on the shaft, and an adjustable support underlies the sleeve.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 and power operated means to raise and lower the adjustable support.

22. The apparatus of claim 20 and means to move the mount forwardly and rearwardly thereof to vary the position of the vertical relative to the driving members.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,130,553 9/1938 Gault 12-17 X 2,840,835 7/1958 Prue l2--17 2,994,893 8/1961 Hitchcock 12-17 3,064,460 ll/ 1962 Dziadulonis 1217 X PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner 

